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[Pallas]

Maybe I was only one of the only people who LOVED Telltales Game of Thrones, I thought the political scheming actually worked even better than TWD. I'm definitely sad to hear there will never be a season 2.

I'm right there with you. I found that GOT and Batman translated best to the Telltale formula.

I would have loved to see James Bond and Star Wars games as well, as I feel those would have worked well. Especially James Bond.

Count me in as well, I enjoyed the GoT game from Telltale, I thought the story was a bit rough but beautiful nonetheless and they didn’t holdback any punches. My favorite game from them would have to be the Borderlands game... I died literally of laughter playing that damn game. Especially the finger gun scene.

I honestly had hope they would get offered the chance to do something Mass Effect or Dragon Age game :/ Alas that won’t ever happen now.

 

[sol_bad]

So basically adventure games have still always been dead except for one surprise hit.

Adventure games have been alive and well for years. Generally made by smaller companies on smaller budgets. Many of these companies are from European companies and cater to a niche audience. These companies managers know what they are doing though and are thriving

I'm sorry but I wouldn't even consider the Telltale games as adventure games, they are more like interactive movies. Within the interactive movie genre Quantic Dreams are being very successful on much larger budgets.

Telltale didn't fail because the genre does not make money, it's because management had no idea what they were doing. As I mentioned in a previous post, this decision is probably so sudden because it was a strategic exit that allowed upper management maximum profits for themselves and not for the company.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Pallas]

Damn ... are all dev studios like this? I honestly have no clue about how that kind of stuff works if someone could fill me in, I’d appreciate it.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

So basically adventure games have still always been dead except for one surprise hit.

Not true. Even though telltale somehow manged to not make money off TWD S2 and Wolf Among Us, both those games have sold millions of units. Over a million sales is great for an adventure game. Also Life Is Strange did 3 mil and Detroit did 1 million in a week this year.

 

[Helios]

Not true. Even though telltale somehow manged to not make money off TWD S2 and Wolf Among Us, both those games have sold millions of units. Over a million sales is great for an adventure game.

I really don't understand where all that money went. There are plenty of companies that live even though they keep putting titles that barely sell. I guess those companies didn't have to pay 250 employees for a god damn adventure game.

 

[Redneckerz]

So basically adventure games have still always been dead except for one surprise hit.

Not really, TWD Season 1 and to a lesser extent TWAU inspired other developers to create games with the same intent - Narrative-heavy and story-driven.

Saying its still always been dead is downplaying games like Life is Strange.

Good, they fucked up two of my all time favourite games:
Monkey Island, Sam & Max.

Go fuck yourselves, Telltale.

I mean... they kinda do that now that most people are laid off? They effectively fucked themselves already.

Again, the onus of blame should not be so much on the people working on these titles, rather at the higher ups at the company - The Verge link below illustrates this rather well.

Damn ... are all dev studios like this? I honestly have no clue about how that kind of stuff works if someone could fill me in, I’d appreciate it.

No, but most studios do experience crunch time - a certain period of time near the end of the game's development where 100 hour work weeks are to be expected. This is something you see happening with most studios.

The difference with Telltale is that its employees were apparently in crunch time all the time. You can imagine how that wrecks your mental and physical health, let alone a strain on any marriage. The Verge covered this and much more and details the nasty side of gamedev that you may not always see.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

i hope gonna be oferts for halloween to get New frontier

 

[Vampire On Titus]

I really don't understand where all that money went. There are plenty of companies that live even though they keep putting titles that barely sell. I guess those companies didn't have to pay 250 employees for a god damn adventure game.

They had a string of games that really under performed. You can only take so many losses in a row before the lights go out. The fact that Guardians Of The Galaxy failed to hit even 100k despite being a wildly popular property with two hit movies is insane. I think they just burned a lot of good will with a string of mediocre games post TWD S2. The first Batman game was middling, TWD Michonne was boring and predictable* and New Frontier was a complete embarrassment IMO. Even the fanboy Youtubbers -- who like everything TTG makes -- had to admit New Frontier was fucked. I can't speak for GoT or Minecraft story mode but neither appealed to me.

I will say they were on an upswing with Batman: The Enemy Within. It was a clear jump in quality and they had some cool new ideas. Actually bringing back a degree of puzzle solving / interactivity with the riddler traps. A genuinely solid script that didn't veer off course in later episodes. By then it was too late, though, and the improved quality didn't translate to sales.


*

Spoiler

(im a huge Michonne fan so I still managed to get some enjoyment out of it but it wasn't great)

 

[petran79]

It really does not matter for the general point i was making. Hell, just replace it with The Whispered World or Myst or Realms of the Haunting.

Now that you mention Daedalic, in 2014 51% of their shares were bought by a book publishing company, allowing them to produce games with their own capital. Original founder kept his position. Book publisher is also interested in bringing Deponia and Edna und Harvey to comics, audio, film and ebooks

https://www.luebbe.com/en/news/2016...wth-plans/id_c420efdffbd541cd4adad247210ac8e7

 

[Helios]

They had a string of games that really under performed. You can only take so many losses in a row before the lights go out. The fact that Guardians Of The Galaxy failed to hit even 100k despite being a wildly popular property with two hit movies is insane. I think they just burned a lot of good will with a string of mediocre games post TWD S2. The first Batman game was middling, TWD Michonne was boring and predictable* and New Frontier was a complete embarrassment IMO. Even the fanboy Youtubbers -- who like everything TTG makes -- had to admit New Frontier was fucked. I can't speak for GoT or Minecraft story mode but neither appealed to me.

I will say they were on an upswing with Batman: The Enemy Within. It was a clear jump in quality and they had some cool new ideas. Actually bringing back a degree of puzzle solving / interactivity with the riddler traps. A genuinely solid script that didn't veer off course in later episodes. By then it was too late, though, and the improved quality didn't translate to sales.


*

Spoiler

(im a huge Michonne fan so I still managed to get some enjoyment out of it but it wasn't great)

Oh, wow. I didn't even know they made a Guardians of the Galaxy game or a minecraft s2. I can definitely see now what happened now. Personally lost my interest in TWD once S2 ended. My interest in the story died with S1 and I felt like the "gameplay" formula was getting repetitive. It's the reason I never played GoT or the Batman series. I would've bought a new puzzle agent in a heartbeat though.

 

[J3nga]

 

[Kadayi]

Good, they fucked up two of my all time favourite games:
Monkey Island, Sam & Max.

Go fuck yourselves, Telltale.

Holy shit are you an actual functional adult? Their Sam & Max & Monkey Island titles were made almost 10 years ago with the people who made the original games involved in the process throughout. Telltale was barely a couple of dozen people back then as well. Get a grip.

 

[Mattyp]

Due to the insanely high cost of living in the Bay Area relative to payscale, many of my (unbelievably skilled and talented!!!) colleagues were living paycheck to paycheck and do not know what they are going to do to make ends meet this month

Sounds like their employees took the same classes as the accountants did via fund management.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Damn ... are all dev studios like this? I honestly have no clue about how that kind of stuff works if someone could fill me in, I’d appreciate it.

There is a thing called "crunch" time, where working hours increase 1.5/2x.
However this period of time 100% stems from bad management, so no not all studios are like that.
In fact there are many studios that have realised "crunch time" is insanely stupid so they've banned it completely, like Criterion Games (burnout devs).

The studios that do still use this tactic, do so because:
1. bad management; being bad at your job and also viewing people as tools/resources instead of the human beings they are.
2. a large number of devs that, for some idiotic reason, wear "crunch time" as a badge of honour, or at least think it's normal.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I was always under the impresson that Telltale was doing well for themselves, considering how many projects they churned out but I guess it was the old "bite off more than they could chew"-kinda scenario. I liked The Walking Dead S1 & 2, Tales from the Borderlands and Wolf among Us but I grew weary with their stale formula and crusty old engine they never replaced. It was like The Walking Dead acted as a template for every game they made and they just kept making the same game over and over hoping for another smash hit like TWD. But it´s sad they had to go out of business, it´s never fun to read about people losing their jobs. Hopefully the industry scoops them up in some ways.

 

[SoulUnison]

I honestly had no idea that there was a Minecraft - Season 2.

Telltale just pumped out so many middling uninspired licensed games that they buried each other.

Like, who was clamoring for a Guardians of the Galaxy series without the voices or likenesses of the Marvel cast?
Most people don't even know that game *existed,* and I remember learning it was coming out, learning that it didn't have *any* of the talent you'd hope for attached to it, and immediately mentally wrote it off.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I honestly had no idea that there was a Minecraft - Season 2.

Telltale just pumped out so many middling uninspired licensed games that they buried each other.

Like, who was clamoring for a Guardians of the Galaxy series without the voices or likenesses of the Marvel cast?
Most people don't even know that game *existed,* and I remember learning it was coming out, learning that it didn't have *any* of the talent you'd hope for attached to it, and immediately mentally wrote it off.

It was actually pretty decent though as far as humor and delivery, Nolan North did a fantastic job as Rocket.

 

[Kadayi]

They had a string of games that really under performed. You can only take so many losses in a row before the lights go out. The fact that Guardians Of The Galaxy failed to hit even 100k despite being a wildly popular property with two hit movies is insane. I think they just burned a lot of good will with a string of mediocre games post TWD S2. The first Batman game was middling, TWD Michonne was boring and predictable* and New Frontier was a complete embarrassment IMO. Even the fanboy Youtubbers -- who like everything TTG makes -- had to admit New Frontier was fucked. I can't speak for GoT or Minecraft story mode but neither appealed to me.

I do wonder whether the notable downturn around 2015 might perhaps have something in part to do by being eclipsed in many peoples minds by Dontdod's 'Life is Strange'. I actually thought TTs Game of Thrones was a really well-done game from a story perspective, but graphically it was very hit and miss with the painterly approach they undertook and I think coming out looking kind of raggy versus LIS probably hurt them in terms of peoples perceptions of their product. I thought TWD:ANF was a bit hit and miss, but then TWD as a premise tends to feel like a soap opera with zombies so *shrugs*, however, both the Batman and GoTG games are pretty enjoyable and it's a real kicker that we are unlikely to see sequels to those now (or TWAU and GoT).

 

[Humdinger]

Wow, that graph is really telling. Huge success with TWD Season 1, followed by a steady decline. You can trace that data and it almost makes a perfect parabolic function, descending to an asymptote of zero.

 

[Airola]

Make games 99% based on story.
You don't have to think much when playing the game.
You only occasionally have to have semi quick reflex.
If you mess up the reflex test, it doesn't matter.
Have a huge success because of the license and temporary novelty value.

In the end most of the content you get is what you can watch on Youtube. There's no hook in gameplay. There's no hook in solving puzzles. The only hook is in the story. Most who would watch these on Youtube wouldn't feel they want to beat the challenge or figure out the puzzles by themselves. The only thing they could look for is to get through the story and on Youtube you can get that + be entertained by the reactions of whoever is playing it. These games don't feel as if you are controlling the characters through an adventure. It feels you are mostly just proceeding a story.

Even the studio's name tell their main thing is to tell tales.

I don't think the problem was in their engine or outdated graphics or even in clunky controls. If you want to have your hook solely on telling a story, you have to have an outstanding premise in every story you tell, or the hottest possible license that in itself sells product.

people trying to say youtube and let's plays were a factor, but that shit was peaking out when season 1 of walking dead came out. Everyone and their grandma bought that stuff.

Sure, it was the novelty factor making its magic. And people still thought that they'd get some value out of trying to make different choices so they were excited to buy the game for themselves even if they had seen it already on Youtube. But in the end the choices don't really change much of the story so I think many thought they will get to experience the story just as well on Youtube.

Not really, TWD Season 1 and to a lesser extent TWAU inspired other developers to create games with the same intent - Narrative-heavy and story-driven.

Saying its still always been dead is downplaying games like Life is Strange.

Not sure if you'd want to compare Telltale games to Life Is Strange. While that game was story-driven there was still the hook of having to rewind time. It was way more interactive and puzzle-driven than any Telltale game has been since Back to the Future and Sam & Max.

The game has to give the viewer on Youtube the will to mess around with something in the game. These Telltale's tv and comic book license games didn't really have that factor in them at all.

Good, they fucked up two of my all time favourite games:
Monkey Island, Sam & Max.

I haven't played Telltale's Monkey Island but Sam & Max was a huge disappointment for me. Bought it on Wii thinking adventure games are fun to play on that system but sadly the game just felt really bland and empty.

I liked Back to the Future. It was clunky as hell and but it had at least some sense of adventuring and puzzle solving which the Walking Dead for example lacked.

 

[TheWatcher]

Garbage studio that produced garbage David Cage lite games. Good riddance.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

I do wonder whether the notable downturn around 2015 might perhaps have something in part to do by being eclipsed in many peoples minds by Dontdod's 'Life is Strange'. I actually thought TTs Game of Thrones was a really well-done game from a story perspective, but graphically it was very hit and miss with the painterly approach they undertook and I think coming out looking kind of raggy versus LIS probably hurt them in terms of peoples perceptions of their product. I thought TWD:ANF was a bit hit and miss, but then TWD as a premise tends to feel like a soap opera with zombies so *shrugs*, however, both the Batman and GoTG games are pretty enjoyable and it's a real kicker that we are unlikely to see sequels to those now (or TWAU and GoT).

It's a solid point. Newcomers to the genre basically doing "TellTale's thing" but much better definitely couldn't have helped. Life Is Strange had a better plot, graphics and gameplay than TellTale had managed in years. The only place it lagged behind was dialogue. While TellTale's games were barely cracking 250k with popular licenses, DontNod was announcing 3 million copies sold with their own IP.

However in addition to that I think you can see the intense audience dissatisfaction in specifically how the numbers decline over time. A lot of people were finding the games bad. Look at the sharp decline from each game averaging around ~200k to not even cracking 100k immediately after New Frontier. Similar thing with GoT. I think they were bleeding through good will and really alienated their core fan base with a lot of these releases.

It's also worth mentioning that even if the games were universally of good quality... 6 games within two years is just insane. General fatigue is also something you can look to explaining their downfall in popularity. At a certain point a new TellTale game was just background noise. Whereas when DontNod announces a new game it's an actual event and there's some hype around it.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Redneckerz]

Not sure if you'd want to compare Telltale games to Life Is Strange.

What better option would you offer? Its readily apparent that LiS is directly influenced by the story-driven focus from earlier Telltale titles. If that isn't a correct comparison, then what is?

 

[Hissing Sid]

Thoroughly enjoyed TWD Season 1. Really enjoyed TWAU. Hated TWD season 2. Penny finally dropped that I was replaying Dragons Lair. Stopped buying their games.

Shame they’ve folded though as it means less diversity in the medium.

 

[ar0s]

Really sad news. Shame they did not use TWD:S1 money to fund a new engine that could move with the times. Guessing they massively over expanded and spent tonnes on licenses. I always thought their stuff sold well.

I guess retail releases of only episode one and the rest as DLC included was a very bad indicator for TellTale, even if none of us picked up on the meaning of this at the time.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Short clip from the WIP Stranger Things game TellTale was developing. Seems like they were continuing to take influence from DontNod. Would have been interesting to see what they did with the game.

 

[ar0s]

Is that a new engine?

 

[hariseldon]

I enjoyed Sam and Max seasons 1 and 2, but 3 felt stale, while their monkey island games were decent enough, even if they never matched the peerless brilliance of the originals. Truth is they were decent adventure game developers but not outstanding, and then the Walking Dead happened. At the time it was brilliant, putting you through the wringer emotionally and the choices FELT like they meant something (even if we now know they didn't). I could live without the puzzles because while it was a choose your own adventure, it was one that put you in the situation with characters you cared about, in such difficult situations so things like the sawing off the arm scene for instance really hit so much harder because of the interactive element to it (even if it was limited).

Unfortunately, while the Wolf Among us had a fantastic setting and a decent story, the smoke and mirrors were starting to become very obvious and the 'puzzles'/tasks increasingly derisory. In truth, TWD was a trick that could only work once. It needed to move up a gear and Life Is Strange did that in a way that Telltale could not, and that''s why they lost in the end.

Needless to say I feel bad for the people who worked there, who put their hearts and souls into what they did, creating some incredible gaming moments in those early years, but the company could never keep going sustaining such a huge staff producing a one-shot product multiple times. After the first few showed declining numbers, someone should have sat them down and said this wasn't going to work and started working on a new plan, perhaps take that storytelling nous into a return to proper adventure games with a scaled-down team. That never happened, and now they are gone.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Tales Of Monkey Island was great. It's one of the best in the series imo and Morgan LeFlay was a top tier character. I played through it just recently and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Each chapter kept getting better "The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood." Was probably my favorite. The writing for that scenario was great.

Sam & Max were really good too, especially stand out episodes like "Abe Lincoln Must Die" and "Ice Station Santa,"

Is that a new engine?

It's either the updated TellTale Tool they used for The Final Season or Unity. Pretty sure it's Unity because I remember reading TFS was supposed to be their last TT Tool game.

 

[Airola]

What better option would you offer? Its readily apparent that LiS is directly influenced by the story-driven focus from earlier Telltale titles. If that isn't a correct comparison, then what is?

Yeah sorry, you're right. I missed your point completely and replied to you from a completely different angle than what you were talking about. It's 100% true games like Life Is Strange have been influenced by Telltale's games.
I was basically talking about The Walking dead not being as fit to be promoted on Youtube by Let's Players as a game like Life Is Strange is, and it also being "less of a game" as Life Is Strange is. Obviously you just said those games have influenced Life Is Strange a lot and if we are to talk about adventure games in general we should take games like Life Is Strange into account as well. And you are 100% correct there.

 

[Redneckerz]

Is that a new engine?

That is the Unity Engine at work yes. Its shading gives it away.

Yeah sorry, you're right. I missed your point completely and replied to you from a completely different angle than what you were talking about. It's 100% true games like Life Is Strange have been influenced by Telltale's games.

Well that was my gist lol.

I was basically talking about The Walking dead not being as fit to be promoted on Youtube by Let's Players as a game like Life Is Strange is, and it also being "less of a game" as Life Is Strange is. Obviously you just said those games have influenced Life Is Strange a lot and if we are to talk about adventure games in general we should take games like Life Is Strange into account as well. And you are 100% correct there.

Its less gameplay driven yes in the sense that TWD is more just a button clicker at that sense. However just like LIS and Quantic Dream, they focus on narrative.

 

[Allandor]

Well, that is … well
lets just say, I loved their first games. I ordered Sam'n'Max as soon as it was possible (wasn't that as a baker?). The poster still hangs right next to my monitor (juts looking at it).
But they made something that I really dislike and they stayed with this system .. Quicktime-events. I really don't like this in an adventure game. I need my time to decide what I want to do/answer. This really killed my interesst in their games after Sam'n'Max.

 

[MayauMiao]

They had a string of games that really under performed. You can only take so many losses in a row before the lights go out. The fact that Guardians Of The Galaxy failed to hit even 100k despite being a wildly popular property with two hit movies is insane. I think they just burned a lot of good will with a string of mediocre games post TWD S2. The first Batman game was middling, TWD Michonne was boring and predictable* and New Frontier was a complete embarrassment IMO. Even the fanboy Youtubbers -- who like everything TTG makes -- had to admit New Frontier was fucked. I can't speak for GoT or Minecraft story mode but neither appealed to me.

I will say they were on an upswing with Batman: The Enemy Within. It was a clear jump in quality and they had some cool new ideas. Actually bringing back a degree of puzzle solving / interactivity with the riddler traps. A genuinely solid script that didn't veer off course in later episodes. By then it was too late, though, and the improved quality didn't translate to sales.


*

Spoiler

(im a huge Michonne fan so I still managed to get some enjoyment out of it but it wasn't great)

I played the Season One of TWD, got it for "free" via PSN+. I thought it was a great point & click game but was not enough to sway be to buy Season 2.

Maybe gamers like me just dont see the value of buying any Tell Tales games that relies on storyline that adds very little replay value after finishing it.

 

[Meesh]

I'm quite saddened by this.... I enjoyed their games so much!

They did an amazing job of the Lego and Walking Dead games.
Will be missed

 

[Fuz]

Short clip from the WIP Stranger Things game TellTale was developing. Seems like they were continuing to take influence from DontNod. Would have been interesting to see what they did with the game.

Ugh, horrible art style. And that fucking shoulder camera...


As I said: nothing of value is lost.

 

[Allandor]

I'm quite saddened by this.... I enjoyed their games so much!

They did an amazing job of the Lego and Walking Dead games.
Will be missed

Tt (http://www.ttgames.com/) is not Telltale
Telltale never made a lego game.

 

[Humdinger]

TWD Season 1 and Tales from the Borderlands were both excellent. I'll consider that their legacy.

 

[PedroPanache]

I loved The Walking Dead, but aside from that I can't say I ever had any interest in anything else they did, at least post Walking Dead, when they shifted to a more narrative driven outlook. I always felt that Life is Strange essentially drank their milkshake. Whilst they were knocking out all manner of licensed content to ever diminishing returns, here comes something that takes their formula and pushes it to the next level. After Life is Strange, Telltale Games seemed to be even more dated. But, even so, it sucks that they're gone. I hope everyone laid off can land on their feet soon.

 

[Arun1910]

Just letting PS4 owners know that you can request a refund from Playstation if you ordered the Season Pass. I requested one yesterday and got an email back now to verify the details of my account and the purchase.

 

[DreamsiclesPlz]

I'm real sad that we won't get Wolf Among Us 2 or that Stranger Things game. Feel bad for the devs who are suddenly displaced with no safety net.

 

[CJY]

If they simply updated their engine at some point, I believe they would have survived a lot longer. Instead they took advantage of the good hearts, talents and time of their employees and did the shittiest job imaginable in trying to create a successful studio

 

[Vampire On Titus]

More WIP Stranger Things leaks:

 

[Hendrick's]

Damn ... are all dev studios like this? I honestly have no clue about how that kind of stuff works if someone could fill me in, I’d appreciate it.

Most jobs are like this.

 

[jshackles]

https://www.greenmangaming.com/publisher-sale/telltale/

If you're looking to finish out your Steam library with a few of their most recent and best games, they're on sale on GMG. Not the best sale ($10 off full price) but better than paying retail. Make sure the DRM says "Steam" because you definitely don't want to get stuck holding a "Telltale games account" key any time soon.

 

[TimFL]

The Stranger Things gameplay looks really cool, I wonder whether they got the actors to reprise their roles (the art style is funky but you can make out their likenesses pretty much?).

 

[Woody Nvincible]

Such a shame. Tales From the Borderlands had me laughing from start to finish. No Wolf Among Us 2 has me gutted.

 

[CJY]

Wonder who will take over developing the stranger things game.

 

[McCheese]

Wonder who will take over developing the stranger things game.

Netflix could nab up some of the previous developers.. if they were inclined to do so. Seems like it would be a sensible investment, heck they could even include the games in their subscription package.